Author Archives: mdilwort

Author Archives: mdilwort

Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month

Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month!  Heritage months are always a great opportunity to immerse yourself in culture, so this month offers the perfect opportunity to explore the rich contributions of those of Asian descent.  Fortunately, the library has resources for any question.    The Asian Studies eBook Collection is a great place to start, with material on everything from art to religion to history.  It covers perspectives from China, Japan, Korea, Tibet, and Central, South, and Southeast Asia.  If it’s literature you want, Asian American Drama and South and Southeast Asian Literature are great for both original writing and critical research.  Interested in business?  Try Asian Business and Reference.  Or listen to Asian voices unfiltered with … Continued
Catalog Facelift

Catalog Facelift

Long gone are the days of card-based catalogs, but still, the library’s online catalog continues to improve.  You may have tried the new version of IUCAT – the search box on our home page uses it – but now the bugs are worked out and it is our official index for books, ebooks, videos, reserves, and more.  It’s still the same catalog, though, and you can do all the same things – it’s just a new, cleaner interface.  You can still look for books and videos, renew your checkouts, request items from other IU campuses, and will receive email warnings before your checkouts come due.  But using it is easier than ever.   You can use it to search IU … Continued
This Week in History

This Week in History

This week marks the anniversary of the tragic Kent State demonstrations, a protest against the Vietnam War (specifically, the Cambodia invasion) that cost the lives of four students and injured nine others.  Given the importance of Vietnam to modern American history, it is a common topic in our history classrooms and assignments.  The Kent State shooting showed us that even students here in America could find themselves in the line of fire.   Whether you’re researching the Kent State tragedy or the Vietnam War as a whole, there are plenty of resources for you.  Databases like America: History and Life or JSTOR have a wealth of information – even a simple search turns up hundreds of articles, new and old.  … Continued
The Technology is a Changin’

The Technology is a Changin’

You might have heard that VHS tape players are being removed from all classrooms starting next semester.  If you’ve ever used a video in your projects or presentations, you’ll need a more modern format from now on.  Of course, you’re probably already used to using modern media like DVDs.  But even those sources can be cumbersome. Because, really, any hard format is becoming rarer.  Chances are, you stream films with Netflix or Hulu as often as you buy a DVD or BluRay disc.  But are they good sources for your class assignments?  There are lots of places to find streaming video.  Of course, there are resources like Vimeo, YouTube, and Viddler, and those are great free resources online.  But they … Continued
Sing, O Muse

Sing, O Muse

April is National Poetry Month.  Launched in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets, it pays tribute to the ways poetry enriches American culture, both past and present.  Their website has a number of poetry-related readings and activities, including a Poem-A-Day program you can receive through email.  You can also follow Natasha Trethewey, our current Poet Laureate, at the Library of Congress.  But our library is well stocked with resources for poetry and poetry criticism, as well.  Among are databases are Litfinder, which includes over 150,000 full-text poems and 800,000+ poetry citations, among numerous other short stories, speeches, and plays; 20th Century American Poetry, which includes over 50,000 poems from authors like Adrienne Rich, Langston Hughes, Ezra Pound, Denise Levertov, … Continued